Making heroines with EdArt3D

by rainoftoads

As I've honed my skills as a digital arts hobbyist, I've assembled a rich library of 3D models, textures, and wearables. Including more than a few products from EdArt3D.

My current project is live on Kickstarter until February 16th, 2018: Make 100 Heroines.

The aim is to create 100 original genre heroines, illustrate them with 3D-rendered art,and assemble them into a digital and print book. At the time of writing, the project is just over

halfway to its initial funding goal.

Before I started, I knew I'd use a number of EdArt3D's clothing sets and textures for three reasons:

1) His products are high-quality, and the retro futuristic aesthetic has wide appeal.The designs are a good fit for superhero, period, and science fiction characters.I've set myself the goal of creating 100 original heroines, so I need to cover a range of genres, and EdArt3D's clothing gives me a running start on three of them.

2) His clothing sets are highly bashable. Some, like the recent Prototype series for Genesis 8, have been designed from the ground up so pieces from different sets can be combined seamlessly.Others simply work well together because of their underlying aesthetic or common textures.Being able to mix-and-match increases the number of unique designs I can produce.

3) By making his future textures (including a ton of excellent normal maps) available for purchase as Iray shaders, EdArt3D has made it easy for clothing from other sources to be mixed with his own, while maintaining a consistent look.The Future Shaders and normal map add-ons are a resource I cannot recommend highly enough - they're great for non-clothing surfaces as well, such as futuristic walls or retro furniture.

Alpha was one of the first characters I created for 100 Heroines, and she's been a big hit. The suit, cape and boots from Space Heroine for G3F give her the sleek and classic super-heroine look I wanted for a character who is essentially the Superman of 100 Heroines. I was able to customize the headband, gloves and pants from other sets using the Future Iray Shaders. The pants were a late addition, but I was able to tie them together with the rest of the outfit by using the same textures on the pants and cape. I'm a sucker for hexagonal normal maps!

Ruby is a 100 Heroines character in progress. The base of her costume is Gynoid NextGen Phase 2 for G3F with the add-on blaster. None of the included materials quite matched what I had in mind for her mini dress, but the future shaders allowed me to customize the look while still matching the blaster, gloves, and boots.

When I realized the belt didn't work with the pose I wanted, having it be a separate wardrobe item was an improvement over the space heroine set. Removing it created a sleeker look. It's interesting to see how EdArt3D's products have adapted to the needs of artists, and become more flexible over time. This is something I've noticed with the Prototype series: not only do they fit alongside each other, items can be layered to create depth.